Short List:

Christopher Grey, Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers

Jeff Smith, Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head-to-Toe Guide

J. D. Wacker, Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers

These excellent books assume you know how to use your camera, especially in a manual mode, and that you understand the basics of focus, exposure, aperture settings, shutter speeds, depth of field, light fall-off, and the basics of flash photography. If you are new to photography, you will need to go through the basics in the Tips section of my web site and/or read a good basic photography book. There are also some basic portrait suggestions in the People section of my web site and some of the posts on this blog.

Grey’s Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers is all about using studio lights. It is an excellent book and a must read if you want to do studio work. It covers all of the basics in depth with a lot of illustrations.

Smith and Wacker’s books are filled with posing suggestions complete with illustrations. Wacker’s Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers leans more toward traditional or classic poses while Smith’s Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head-to-Toe Guide leans more toward contemporary poses. There is some overlap but enough differences between the books to make them both worthwhile. Smith’s book is heavily weighted toward individual portraits, primarily of adults and teens, plus some work with couples. Wacker covers these too, but he also has good sections on children and families.